Which to use
“top” and “topic” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,241
- “top” frequency rank
- #18,609
- “topic” frequency rank
- 19850
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | top | topic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le meilleur. | Fil de discussion sur un forum internet ; suite de messages consécutifs autour d'un sujet donné regroupés grâce à une interface qui en facilite la lecture. |
Where the eye mixes top and topic
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: top vs topic
A purely visual mix-up. top (\tɔp\) and topic (\tɔ.pik\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “top” sits inside “topic”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19850, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
top is recorded at frequency rank #1,241, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔp\. topic is at rank #18,609, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.pik\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 19850, this pair ranks #371,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of top vs topic
Shared letters: opt. Private to "top": -. Private to "topic": ci.
"top" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "topic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- topic ← otpic · toipc · topci · topicc · toppic · tpoic · ttopic
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "top" for "topic" ever safe?
Frequency check: "top" vs "topic" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "top" and "topic" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "top" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "topic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "top" and "topic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "topic vs toxic". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #371,233 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.